Has everyone else seen this? I hadn't seen any other references to it.

A Day in Monaghan's 'Lost' LifeBy Kate O'HareSunday, February 12, 200612:00 AM PT

It's Thursday on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, and "Lost" star Dominic Monaghan has a day off, but he's hardly kicking back by the pool."I have my parents in town right now," he says. "I'm running around getting things done while they're in the post office getting postcards right now."

Asked if he's the son of the year because teacher Austin and nurse Maureen Monaghan are getting to spend the Christmas season in paradise, Monaghan says, "I'm trying. Although my brother lives in Costa Rica, and they've always been used to their sons being in far-flung places. They get good air miles now."

On "Lost," airing Wednesdays on ABC, Monaghan plays Charlie Pace, a heroin-addicted rock musician who finds himself stranded along with other survivors of downed Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 on an island already inhabited by dangerous "others," polar bears, a horse, an unspecified number of underground bunkers, mysterious black smoke and unseen monsters.After weaning himself off drugs with the help of fellow castaway Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Charlie then came into possession of several plaster Virgin Mary statues stuffed with bags of heroin, which were carried in the belly of a crashed light plane that took off from Nigeria. It was also carrying the priest brother of castaway Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), but that's another story.

What's interesting for Charlie is he is a former Catholic altar boy, so the statue itself represents something once important to him, which will have to be destroyed to get to the drugs.

As he posts some mail, Monaghan (decked out for the day in a T-shirt for Charlie's band, Driveshaft) reflects on this: "One of the most interesting things they've written in the show right now is Charlie being a lapsed Christian but at some point was very, very into it. He has to destroy the thing he believes in to get to the thing that could ultimately destroy him, and that's a deep symbolic moment for Charlie.

"If he wants to get back on the drugs, he's going to have to smash this symbol of what he, at one point, held very holy and true, to get to something that could ultimately send him on a one-way path to destruction."

In a January episode called "The 23rd Psalm," Charlie and Eko teamed up on a search for the plane.

"Physically, it's interesting," Monaghan says, "because Eko's a huge, imposing guy, and Charlie's not too sure of himself. But Charlie also has this speed and sense of humor and presence of mind that I don't think Eko has as much. Charlie is able to very cockily, very wittily, underplay anything that Eko does.

"Charlie's not a pushover. The interesting thing about being a junkie for a long enough time is that you are an expert at lying, expert at manipulation. You're very good at protecting self. Charlie has all these things going for him."

Monaghan came to "Lost," which is a true TV phenomenon, after coming off a true movie phenomenon, playing the hobbit Merry in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. But American audiences first saw Monaghan on PBS as the teenage sidekick to a matronly detective, played by veteran actress Patricia Routledge, in the British series "Hetty Wainthropp Investigates."

While at the juice bar, Monaghan talks about his first real job. "I was definitely aware of the fact that it wasn't street-wise, and it wasn't that much of a cool show. And, at 19, 20 years old, you definitely want to be seen as cool in front of your peers. But I kept my head down. I knew it was a means to an end.

"I had a baptism of fire with Patricia. She definitely told me how it was working, and I learned a lot."

He then devoted years of his life to "The Lord of the Rings" and made fast friends with fellow hobbits Billy Boyd, Elijah Wood and Sean Astin. While he doesn't like to push his work on friends, Monaghan did give in to requests from Boyd and Wood while they were visiting over the holidays last year to see some episodes of "Lost."

"They ended up watching it," he says, "and became really big fans. I get Billy calling me up, saying, 'What's going to happen with this guy? What's down the hatch? What's the monster?'

Later at the gas station, with Monaghan outside and his parents out of earshot inside the car, the actor reveals what his success has meant to his family.

"My parents are pretty cool people," he says. "They are proud of both their sons. My brother's a teacher in Costa Rica and actually does a more important and significant job than I will ever do. My parents are both very honorable people. Because of that, they have a nice outlook on things. They're very happy that I'm doing what I want to do, and they like the fact that they can come and visit their sons in different countries."

The elder Monaghans even got to don costumes and appear in the background of a flashback scene.

Later, after going through the carwash, Monaghan counsels fans to not be afraid if Charlie succumbs once again to his addiction.

"Don't worry if Charlie's going to go down that path," he says, "because the only reason he's going to go down that path is so he can come back again. It's a redemption story for every character.

"It's like the island is a big mirror, and everyone has to look at their reflection when they're on the island. Each character has to question what they've done or who they are or why they made those decisions. Because of that, it is ultimately a redemption story."